Firefighters mop up a vegetation fire in Brea Canyon last month. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Overtime in the county's largest firefighting agency decreased by more than $3 million last year, a savings Orange County Fire Authority officials attribute to the fact there were no major brushfires in 2009.

But with a growing number of empty firefighting positions at the agency and the need to staff stations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, officials expect overtime costs to climb.

Though firefighters with the OCFA earn an average base salary of $84,000, the average overall earnings for a firefighter in the agency is $131,522 in 2009, records show. With the help of overtime hours, some firefighters, however, were able to more than double their base salaries.

For example, Capt. Robert Hutnyan, the top earner in the department, made more than $241,000 in 2009, with roughly $101,000 coming from overtime.

But the firefighter who accrued the most overtime was Jim Owen, a 30-year veteran who died during a training exercise in September. Known to his colleagues as "Jimmy," "The Mayor," and "J-overtime," Owen amassed more than $120,000 in overtime alone in 2009.

According to records obtained by The Orange County Register, firefighters with the OCFA accrued more than 548,000 hours of overtime in 2009, resulting in a cost of more than $24.7 million. That was $3 million less than what the agency spent on overtime costs the previous year. But in 2009 there were no major fires in Orange County to drive up overtime.

In the long run, officials expect overtime to continue climbing as more firefighters reach retirement and firefighting positions remain empty.

NOT FILLING POSITIONS

Facing an economic crunch, OCFA officials have opted to use overtime hours to fill vacant positions, instead of hiring new firefighters. It's a practice OCFA officials said is cheaper in the long run.

Officials said they're trying to lower overtime costs by decreasing the hours devoted to training and community events. Cutting overtime caused by vacant positions, however, is another matter.

"We're trying to drive it down," said Lori Zeller, assistant chief for the OCFA. "(Open positions) are a force that's driving it in the opposite direction."

OCFA Chief Keith Richter said the agency is trying to balance the need to lower overall costs and at the same time avoid fatigue to its 821 firefighters.

Most of the overtime hours earned by firefighters were due to backfilling, meaning firefighters worked extra hours in order to cover empty positions.

The second leading cause of overtime was training, according to OCFA records.

Most of Hutnyan's 598 overtime hours were devoted to training exercises he led. Owen's training earned him 208 hours of overtime in 2009. Capt. Gregory Bradshaw, the third highest earner in OCFA, had 816 hours of OT from training alone.

Owen, a specialized firefighter trained in urban search and rescue and the OCFA's hazardous materials teams, used much of that overtime to train other firefighters, said Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion. He was also undergoing Homeland Security training outside of California.

Hutnyan is also a training firefighter, he said.

Though most overtime hours – about 84 percent – are spent on covering open slots, sick days, and vacations, about 7 percent of overtime revenue is spent on training.

Using overtime to fill vacant positions helps save money, but Zeller said the agency is looking for ways to control it. Cutting down on training overtime hours may be one option.

For the 2009-10 year, officials hope to reduce training overtime by $1.2 million.

Relying on overtime as opposed to hiring new firefighters helps lower costs, OCFA officials said. For example, during their 2008-09 fiscal year, captains, engineers and firefighters worked a total of 631,689 overtime hours for an estimated cost of $33.6 million.

Had those hours been filled with regular positions, the OCFA would have paid an additional $7.3 million for personnel, benefits and pension costs, according to an analysis performed by the agency.

THE FATIGUE FACTOR

"So long as I'm not having to hold people on overtime that don't want to work, it's a cheaper model than if we were to hire full-time bodies," Richter said. "Because we are having a lot of budget issues, it doesn't pencil out to say: 'Let's eliminate the overtime.'"

Overtime hours are covered on a volunteer basis, and firefighters are limited to working 96 consecutive hours if they choose to.

But Richter said officials are also trying to strike a balance, knowing that too much overtime can burn out firefighters.

"We want to make sure folks are rested and safe when they are working," Richter said. "When you have too much availability of overtime it starts to burn out your staff."

OCFA expects fill some of the vacant positions next year, after the start of an academy in June.

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